1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a recording/playback head which can be used with storage mediums capable of optical and magnetic recording and reproducing, and more particularly to a recording/playback head used with magnetic disks; e.g., that used in hard disks.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In recent years, the amount of information has continued to increase steadily, and magnetic disks, optical disks and other mediums capable of relatively high-density recording are being used in place of conventional paper as storage mediums. Of these, greater recording densities are being required of those storage mediums with read/write capability.
Of the storage mediums with read/write capability, those that perform magnetic recording include the magnetic disks used in hard disks, etc., and greater recording density is achieved on these magnetic disks by improving the magnetic disk itself and the magnetic head.
The magnetic disk is being improved through the development of mediums with high, stable coercivity, and the materials being used include Co metal and Co-Ni, Co-Ti, Co-Fe, Co-Cr, Co-Ni-Cr and Co-P alloys.
Since the magnetic heads must be able to write information to a magnetic disk with a larger coercivity, they must be able to form a large magnetic field on the storage medium surface. Further, since the recording frequency cannot be lowered when recording on the magnetic disk, a floating type magnetic head is used, and the distance the head floats above the magnetic disk is minimized so that it is as close as possible to the storage medium surface.
However, at any frequency, there is a limit to how large a magnetic field can be generated by a floating type magnetic head, so magnetic disks with a very large coercivity cannot be used, which causes difficulties in performing recording at sufficiently high recording densities. Moreover, in configurations in which the magnetic head is as close as possible to the magnetic disk, not only does the effect of dust between the magnetic disk surface and the magnetic head become greater, but also there is a much greater danger of head crash.